Eli_6

He was right because the Suites were allowed to board before everyone else. I was immediately allowed in terminal and put straight through to the VIP lounge at Pt Canaveral and was the first to board even though I had a 2 pm boarding time. Same thing happened on my Alaskan cruise where I had a suite. And I was the first to board on my Europe cruise with a suite, too...although, in that case, they were so off schedule it didn't matter because of traffic delays. Still, I was allowed to board before even platinums and diamonds. The "boarding times" do not apply to suites or FFTF. That is what you are paying extra for. There are not that many suites or fftf on the ship so the vast majority of people can't just show up whenever they feel like it.

I put off booking an Air BNB or a hotel when I booked the cruise because there were rumblings that the cruise might cancel. We will be in Barcelona May 25-28. Now it seems like everything is $400-500 a night for most of the places I would want to stay. And I need two rooms or a family room because I have two adults and will have a 9 and 10 year old by the time of the cruise. I was really wanting to stay at the W, but at $1k a night ($500 per night per room), that is more than I want to pay. Can anyone rec a reasonably nice hotel that I can affordably get two rooms at? Even the Radisson was $375 per night...and I need two rooms.

I couldn't cruise with Viking even if I wanted to because they don't allow kids.

Geez. The 19 year old we took with us was an adult with a full-time job, her own apartment and her own car. And she had a kid by age 21. I had a college degree by 21 and a doctorate by 27. I guess that is the difference between boys and girls so long as the girls don't go boy crazy. Not looking forward to my boys getting to that age. Although, I don't really worry about girls as they are so nerdy I don't think they will probably get a girlfriend until they are 30.

I think I am going to look at the Celebrity spring break 2025 cruise. My mortgage will be paid off by then. I will have been able to "recover" and "rebuild" my frequent flyer miles so hopefully can get cheap air fare. Plus, since it is so far out, I have my pick of the rooms. I just wish Celebrity didn't charge quite so much for the deposit. Their deposits are PRICEY compared to carnival!

That's a great itinerary. Unfortunately, it is after my kids are back in school.

You will have to be their "guardians" for the cruise. You don't have to be their legal guardian outside of the cruise, but just have their bookings linked to yours, check in together, and take responsibility for them. They can be booked wherever they want to be booked on the ship, though. We had to do this when we took an office cruise and my husband had one employee who was 19.

You will be totally fine even if you give him his own boarding pass. Just tell him the "priority" is for being Platinum or Diamond.

I am seriously looking at the Celebrity for March 2025. There is an overnight in Jerusalem and an overnight in Cairo. Plus, it is far enough out that I can save up my miles. I just tried to book a flight for my graduation to Edinburgh in November and it was like 1.5 times the miles it was just 6-9 months ago. Then I looked at paying for it and OMG I was SHOCKED. I used to fly roundtrip business (lay flat bed) to/fro London for about 3k and could do an economy flight to Edinburgh (it is only 90 minutes) for $100-200. NOW those same flights are running 5k-8k!!! If I want to fly my entire family, I am looking at 20k in business. To say I am in sticker shot is an under statement. I am low on miles right now because we did 4 roundtrip bus class this past summer to Edinburgh for The Open and I have 4 already booked with miles to Barcelona this year for our cruise. I was going to bring my kids so they could see their Mom walk because my ceremony will be over their Thanksgiving holiday, but now I am reconsidering because flights are so high. And it is not even a holiday over there!!!

I will have to look at that. I couldn't seem to find it on their website.

@Heartgrove Your suggestion of the MSC World Voyages has just opened up an entirely new world for me. Wow, they have so many AMAZING routes and for cheap!

Thanks! I saw those. I wish they had 2024 posted.

Thanks for the suggestion on those repositioning cruises. Looking at them right now!

I had a vista suite on the Pride this past summer. It didn't say suite, but it did say priority on our luggage tags and our boarding documents. I would just tell him that the "priority" is for being platinum, diamond, etc. if he asks. Even if you aren't platinum, I would just tell him that. However, when you board, I think that suite guests board before everyone else so you either have to forego the preferred boarding or let him know then. Edit: Saw the other responses. It definitely says PRIORITY and not suite. I still have my docs left over in one of my travel bags. If you are already diamond or platinum, I would just walk up there when they call suites and not say anything. If your husband is like my husband, he would never notice.

Nope, I have not had that happen. And I understand why you don't want to call Carnival due to the long wait times. Only thing I can say is that they obviously aren't going to cancel your cruise...

I think it is only as a part of their world cruise. When I went on the website, I can't find anything on a stop in Egypt except for as part of their world cruise. You can do only a segment of the world cruise but it is still like 50-60 days. I used to think I wanted to do a world cruise, but after 3 weeks with my kids and husband in Europe this past summer with my two kids in tow, I now do not think that is wise. I was more than ready to come home after just 3 weeks. Although, honestly, my kids were probably better travelers than my husband...

After doing more of my own research, it appears that Royal and Carnival are out as they don't seem to have any cruises going to this area. MSC is low on the totem pole because they cruise out of Cairo and it would cost me 320,000 miles for one person to fly business class to Cairo. For whatever reason, going to Athens (where Celebrity cruises out of) is much cheaper and fewer miles...plus we get a stop in Jerusalem. Didn't see anything on Azamara either. Still need to look into HAL. Anyone with any other suggestions, let me know.

I was supposed to go on a land-based trip with my local museum by myself in 2020, but it was canceled due to Covid. Now my kids are old enough that I hate not to take them. Yet, I don't really want to do the "pack and repack" my family of 4 multiple times that goes along with a land-based vacation so I have been looking at cruises. I am interested in taking a cruise that goes to Egypt in 2024 or 2025. My kids will be 9 and 11 (2024) or 10 and 12 (2025). So far, it seems like Celebrity is the best option as it stays overnight in Alexandria allowing us to see the pyramids of Giza. I know the smaller ships that go up the Nile are preferable for this type of destination, but many do not allow children as young as my children. Anyone know of any cruises that would go to this region and allow kids under 12? Bonus points if it had a kid's program or facilities for kids. (That's why I was leaning towards Celebrity.)

Thank you for this information! I was hoping we would be able to do that.

Never mind about my last question. It appears that the "Fun Factory" is the Kid's Club.

Thank you for your response! My problem is that I have children and I don't think Viking allows you to take children. HAL does, though. I was hoping to find a ship large enough to have some amenities for the kids, but that may be a pipe dream. The main reason I liked the Celebrity cruise was because it had an overnight stay in Alexandria which I thought would be long enough to see the Pyramids of Giza.

I have never been on a Celebrity cruise before. I booked a European cruise on the Apex for our family and it was canceled due to Covid and we never rescheduled with Celebrity and ended up just doing the cruise on a different line in 2022. I am wanting to now take a cruise that goes to Egypt as I was supposed to take a land-based vacation there in 2020 that was also canceled due to Covid. It appears that Celebrity and HAL are my best options. In particular, I like the Celebrity sailing because it spends two days and a night in Alexandria which would allow us time to see the Pyramids of Giza. It also goes to Jerusalem which is a place I have always wanted to visit. It will be my husband, my two children, and myself on the cruise. (My husband is a physician with his own practice and we typically have to plan our vacations that involve going across the world well in advance since he has to get alternative coverage for 2-3 weeks at a time so that is why I am looking at cruises 2-3 years from now.) We typically get two staterooms when we go on a cruise. We prefer to either get two adjoining rooms or a room across the hall from the one in which our children stay in. We actually did a suite across the hall from an inside room on an Alaska sailing recently (non celebrity cruise) and I enjoyed that even more than the adjoining rooms. My kids are currently 8 and 10, but I am looking at taking this cruise in either 2024 or 2025 so they would be 9 and 11 -or- 10 and 12 by the time of the cruise...depending on when we take it. After looking at the Celebrity ship that sails to Alexandria (which appears to be the Infinity), I think my preference would be to get a veranda room across the hall from an inside room for my kids. Does anyone know what the rules are for kids being booked in rooms near their parents? I know, for example, Carnival allows kids to be booked in a separate room from their parents if the parents are directly across the hall. Alternatively, I suppose I could also book my husband and one child in a room and myself and the other child in another room. In this scenario, would Celebrity then allow us to swap (i.e. parent for child so parents have their own room) once on board or, at least, give both of us parents keys to both rooms? Also, does the Celebrity Infinity not have a kid's club? I looked at the ship deck plan and did not see anything that resembled a Kid's Club, but the website seems to indicate that this is something that Celebrity offers... I will concede that we normally cruise on lines that are "child/family focused" but none of those lines go to Egypt...or, if they do, the dates don't work for our kid's school. We are fortunate in that our children go to private school so we have a little bit of leeway in them missing school, but I can't pull them out for 3 weeks. The particular sailings on Celebrity fall on their spring break so would only have them missing a few days.

That is kind of how my husband and I were in reverse...he got really sick and I was only mildly sick. He is 47 and I am 42.

I think the answer is probably no, but I wasn't sure if it was perhaps a rare cruise like their Greenland cruises. I watched "Death on the Nile" and that got me interested in a cruise to Egypt. Plus, I was supposed to take a land-based vacation to Egypt in 2020 with the Houston Museum of Natural History, but it was canceled due to Covid. I found where both Celebrity and HAL go there. It looks like they have some nice cruises on those lines and it made me wonder if Carnival has ever ventured that way.

I own shares, but mainly for the stock holder benefit. They are not a major part of my portfolio.